London's Suburbs - Unlocking their Potential

Recognising the need to update many tired looking town centres, and to reduce commuting by making it easier to work closer to home, the report's authors set out a series of proposals. Many have been taken up in the London Assembly's report, which criticises the GLA's complacency, and refers to the need to match the standards being achieved in Dutch and German cities.

The report's recommendations include: upgrading 100 transport interchanges, promoting green chains to link places together without having to use main roads, developing green business parks and incubators, and setting up eco housing projects in every borough, along with measures to encourage community building.

In launching the report, Dr Nicholas Falk commented: 'There are a whole range of possible tools to improve the suburbs, but little has been done to resource the coordinated action that is needed. If we do not act fast enough, we will get a repeat of the problems that have been associated with inner city areas in the past.

Ben Kochan said:
The suburbs are not only on the periphery of London but also in terms of regional policy. As the place where the majority of Londoners live, it is time that the London government gave them the attention they serve.'

BURA's Dr Gareth Potts, Project Leader, claimed that: 'London's suburbs need individuals, agencies and alliances to actively champion their cause and help them become places that, economically and architecturally, recapture the World's attention over the coming decades and centuries. If they do this they will be making a key contribution to London's World City status'.